Blog

Read labels, including Clothes!

Did you know polyester is made from plastic? We usually associate BPA with plastics or canned goods, but it is also in clothes made from plastic fibers such as polyester. The Center for Environmental Health is calling out 7 brands … Continue reading »

Salad Dressings – NO MORE store bought sick Salad Dressings!

Salad dressings – NO MORE store bought dressings! Making your own salad dressing saves you inflammation, toxic preservatives, MSG, sugar, and a little money! Don’t ruin your healthful salad with ingredients like titanium dioxide which damages your DNA and is … Continue reading »

What are Epinutrients?

EpiNutrients – Anti-aging food. Anti-aging is a popular topic today, especially among biohackers. Have you heard about epinutrients? Probably not and it’s no wonder, it’s barely talked about in research papers even though there is extensive research on them. My … Continue reading »

Tratak and other Eye Exercises

Tratak and eye exercises These are fairly new to my practices. I’ve been studying pranayama with Robert Moses and he introduced a few eye exercises in his classes (mostly related to the vagus nerve), then in the Pranayama Teacher Training … Continue reading »

What is Shakti?

What is Shakit? Shakti is our personal power. It is sometimes used interchangeably with prana, but shakti and prana are different. Prana is our energy or life force, shakti is feminine form of our power. Shakti empowers one with confidence, … Continue reading »

Bhavana – Intension into Action

What are your intentions? I often say in my classes, what are you thinking? What are your thoughts conjuring up? Give your thoughts intention. Bhavana – intention with action A bhavana is often translated as an intention, but it is … Continue reading »

The new way I’m teaching ashtanga yoga

Relaxing the rules around ashtanga and practicing for all 3 bodies~ While I love ashtanga, the system is being abused. Over the years the system has gotten abused by it being made more militant, more intense with too many rules, … Continue reading »

Organs, Emotions, and your Body’s Physiology

Emotions and your body This blog is following up on years of working with people in their yoga practices with repeated bouts of pain, pain that seems to pop up for no apparent reason, or areas of their body that … Continue reading »

Tuning In – Going Deeper into Interoception

Tuning in — Going deeper into interoception. Welcome to 2022 – Hoping for a more calm year? Me too! It begins with us, the calmer we can keep our mind the more we will have calm this year! We do … Continue reading »

Archetypal Sitting

I’ve been saying for many years now, when you have to sit — don’t sit like a lady, sit like a yogi. Now there are studies proving the benefits of this. It has been coined “Archetypal Rest Postures”. Think we … Continue reading »

Modifiable Lifestyle Risk Factors

It’s time to get beyond just masking, social distancing, vaccining, and quarantining. While helpful, these measures are by themselves proving inadequate as this infectious disease rages on. As with virtually every other disease, improving the health of the population is … Continue reading »

Same thing, different language

The deeper I go into the study of the physiology of the science of the body the more I realize yoga is based on science, they are saying the same things in different languages, for example; The kundalini is the vagus … Continue reading »

Mudras, Granthis, and The finishing Lotus Flowers

THE THREE CLOSING LOTUS FLOWERS I wanted to take a look at what is happening in body, mind, and physiology of the closing lotus flowers in the ashtanga practice. You learn them in your very first ashtanga class and do … Continue reading »

Spice UP

Spice UP! Culinary herbs and spices have been used for flavoring, as preservative agents, and for their medical properties for centuries. Some of the widely known health effects attributed to herbs and spices include their ability to behave as antioxidants, … Continue reading »

Plant Powered Sun Protection Inside & Out

Summertime Sun 🙂 is not unhealthy! Many are well aware of the necessity of getting sun exposure for the important vitamin D. And now is the time to build your stores of Vitamin D, a fat soluble vitamin that stores … Continue reading »

Inter-o-ception

Yoga is about using your mind, in many different ways, even to get what you want … as long as it is for a higher good for everyone. The monkey mind as they say in yoga, or the ceaseless hamster … Continue reading »

Flavanoids and Pesticides

Flavanoids and pesticides The big picture this pandemic has left us with is the importance of keeping your body resilient. Our best prevention from any contagion is our own immune system. I am going to give you a little snapshot … Continue reading »

Inflammation and your Immune System ~ The good, the bad, and the ugly

Inflammation and your Immunity – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Inflammation is the tool of your immune system, or it’s the side effects of the tools your immune system uses. Inflammation is your immune system being active. Inflammation … Continue reading »

Brown Fat, Fat you want!

Brown Fat, Fat You Want! Brown Adipose Tissue (aka BAT) & Beige Fat I’ve mentioned brown fat in the midst of other topics but never offered it as a topic in and of itself. With the likes of Wim Hof … Continue reading »

Growing New Brain Cells

Growing New Brain Cells Your brain health is within your control. Thanks to the work of Dale Bredesen, MD and his book “The end of Alzheimer’s” and MEND protocol he has proven and documented in over 200 studies how you … Continue reading »

Eating the Rainbow is not Phoo-Phoo advice

Eating the Rainbow is not phoo-phoo advice! It is sound nutritional advice. Eat the Rainbow put into perspective When I was in school with the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, one of the teachers, Deanna Minnich, PhD, IFMCP— she’s a functional … Continue reading »

Exercise Bits & Kitchen Yoga

Exercise Bits and Kitchen Yoga Little bits of exercise, yoga, and movement are effective at helping to reduce effects of sitting too long. Short bits of movements that you accumulate throughout your day do make a difference in our health. … Continue reading »

Heart Rate Variability, Coherence, & Resonance Breathing

Resonance breathing, Coherence, & Heart Rate Variability aka HRV What is Heart Rate Variability? A heart rate that increases on your inhales and decreases on your exhales. A heart rate of 60 or 70 BPM has a beat to beat … Continue reading »

Yoga and your Vagus Nerve

Yoga and your Vagus Nerve Pay attention to how you feel after nice yoga, meditation, or breathing session. Calm. You know, the yoga high. Ahhhh. This is because you just spent about an our stimulating your vagus nerve. There are ways … Continue reading »

What makes Ashtanga Yoga Ashtanga?

What makes Ashtanga Yoga Ashtanga? It’s not necessarily the sequences. While Primary, Intermediate, and Advanced series are part of ashtanga, they are not what really makes the practice ashtanga. Ashtanga means 8 limbs, and asana is only 1 of … Continue reading »

Vinyasa

TOPIC OF THE MONTH FEBRUARY 2006 / September 2011 / updated again and added to blog September 2020 Vinyasa Vinyasa is the way to go Jump on back and feel the flow Upward dog and downward too Pick yourself up … Continue reading »

Bandhas

TOPIC OF THE MONTH September 2020, September 2012, July 2011, May 2006, August 2004 BANDHAS a little thing that makes a big difference Most people’s journey to understand the bandhas usually starts with them being physical, and they put a … Continue reading »

Pranayama – Scientific & Spiritual

Pranayama is another yoga limb of the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. Pranayama means expansion or control depending on who you ask … In my opinion it is both; it is controlling our breath to expand our prana 🙂 … Continue reading »

Pandemic within a Pandemic

The Real Pandemic — and it’s Time to STOP the Fear 🙂 Yay! I had been wondering if there are foods that bind to our ACE2 receptors, and thanks to Jeffrey Bland, PhD — the founder of Functional Medicine, he … Continue reading »

Viral Emergency Kit

Viral Emergency Kit Under the threat of Covid19 and flu and viral season in general, here is a list of food, herbs, and supplements I would keep on hand in case you need to shelter in place while healing and … Continue reading »

Inversions In detail.

Turning our body upside down This turned into a long topic (over 40 pages of information!) — there is a lot going on with inversions that is beyond just physically doing them (I do cover the physical aspects at the … Continue reading »

What is Raising your Kundalini?

WHAT IS RAISING YOUR KUNDALINI? Envision a sleeping serpent coiled up at the base of your spine. The serpent represents ignorance, the spirit of a serpent represents rebirth, transformation, healing through the shedding of an old skin that no longer … Continue reading »

Winter 2020 and your Immunity – You are NOT a sitting duck

Winter 2020 You are not a sitting Duck, you have an Immune System Update to this blog as of March 25, 2020 Maui County is now under orders to “Stay at home, work from home” until April 30th. During these … Continue reading »

Vagal Nerve Stimulation all day long …

Vagal Nerve Stimulation – all day long Little Lifestyle habits that connect you to your Parasympathetic Nervous system and keep your vagus nerve toned. Toning your vagus nerve all day long while you work and play. Why? Our vagus nerve, while … Continue reading »

Sun Salutes from the Inside Out

The Sun Salute – Surya Namaskara Surya means sun, and namaskara is a greeting, so we are greeting the sun. The sun is the soul of the world. Rig Veda 1.115.1 Sun Salutes begin the process of synchronizing body with … Continue reading »

Prana ~ Ways we use it, lose it, and better yet accumulate it

Prana to yogis is vitality, energy. You may hear this word used in yoga classes frequently. Anything that is alive — or moves has prana in it Prana is a sanskrit word that when literally translated means “moving always”. Continue reading »

Drishti drishti (update) for 2020

Originally posted in our TOPIC OF THE MONTHs, AUGUST 2011 Drishti update 2020 – Setting our Drishti, Drishti is our vision for our life. Our drishti is closely tied to how you perceive what you are sensing and thinking. Our brain does … Continue reading »

The new ways Ashtanga is showing up

The new ways Ashtanga is showing up The world of ashtanga yoga is opening up! Now teachers that studied with Krishnamacharya the same time Pattabhi Jois did, but have not become so famous are being sought out for a … Continue reading »

A New Evolutionary Response to Stress

A new Evolutionary Response to Stress What do we do with all this information we have learned about our vagus nerve? We develop a new evolutionary response to stress! I love the “new science” supporting what the yogis have said … Continue reading »

Finding your Flow

Brain waves and finding your flow ~ This is a follow up to my blogs on Presence, Brain Waves, and Minding your MIndstuff, –particularly about being in the wave and less in the particle zone. We have some control over our … Continue reading »

Presence

How to be present in your every day life~ What we learned through brain waves is that when we are doing a task and thinking about something else- it takes a lot of brain energy, and the brain cannot rebuild … Continue reading »

Brain Waves and Minding your Mind

Different brain waves are associated with different functions in the body. When our brain waves are slower we have more of a tendency to be creative and productive along with increased ability to rebuild through lengthening telomeres and increased stem … Continue reading »

Minding your Mindstuff follow up

Minding your Mindstuff follow up Follow up talk on the power of thought, Quantum Physics, and Yoga Start with short meditation – Now … if you have children running around you … it may (or may not!) interfere with this … Continue reading »

Community, “real” yoga, and what is Led Mysore?

Community, real yoga, – and what is Led Mysore? Home Practice vs. Group Practice Group practice is where the community and friendships happen Home practice is where the magic happens Community is an important part of our health. Longevity studies … Continue reading »

Chakras

In yoga tradition there are 7 chakras or energy centers in the body. A chakra is a nerve center, in Sanskrit chakra means circle, and they are points or vortices at which energy is filtered through our system. They act … Continue reading »

Minding Your MindStuff

Mind Stuff — The Next Frontier in your Yoga Practice I realized this is over 20 pages of mind stuff trying to teach you about the power your mind stuff … So lets break it down into different areas I … Continue reading »

Reducing Chemical Exposures

Reduce your chemical exposures — Everyday airborned, household, and toiletry chemicals that are prevalent and disruptive. “The human cell is an antenna for the outside world. It takes the signals from the environment and turns it into biology. It turns … Continue reading »